America’s richest Black billionaire David Steward loses half a billion in net worth

Omokolade Ajayi -

David Steward, the majority shareholder and co-founder of World Wide Technology (WWT), recently saw his fortune take a hit. After reaching $12.3 billion in April, making him America’s wealthiest Black billionaire, his net worth has dropped by half a billion dollars over the past two weeks.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks the fortunes of the world’s 500 wealthiest individuals, Steward’s wealth declined from $12.3 billion on April 27 to $11.8 billion. This decline is attributed to the recent drop in the market value of his 59-percent stake in WWT, a leading information services and hardware provider.

World Wide Technology’s valuation slips after Apil boost

Following a reassessment by Bloomberg in April that boosted Worldwide Technology (WWT)’s valuation by $2 billion due to updated financials on April 22, 2024, the company’s valuation has declined significantly over the past two weeks.

WWT’s valuation, as measured by the enterprise value-to-sales (EV/S) ratio compared to three publicly traded peers — Insight Enterprises, Eplus, and CDW — has fallen significantly. This decline directly impacted the net worth and year-to-date wealth gains of WWT founder David Steward.

As a result of the recent $500 million drop in his fortune, Steward’s year-to-date wealth gains now stand at $2.31 billion, down from $2.78 billion on April 27. Despite the decline, Steward remains among the few Black billionaires to record a significant increase in wealth this year.

Steward leads U.S. Black billionaires despite net worth decline

Despite the recent decline in Steward’s net worth, the tech entrepreneur still maintains his position as America’s richest Black man, ahead of Robert F. Smith, founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, who held the top spot from 2018 to April 2024.

However, on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Steward slipped down the global billionaires list, falling from 172nd on April 27 to 184th at the time of this report. He remains one spot ahead of fellow American billionaire Tilman Fertitta, chairman and chief executive of Fertitta Entertainment, which owns Golden Nugget Casinos and the Landry’s Seafood restaurant chain.